Eighth Grade
by ThyLexiconOfLove
Summary: "Well, in math, 2 negatives make a pos-" "Not if you add them..." "There's no way I'm working with him." 8th grade's full of sterotypes and social food chains. Just how do Nagihiko and Rima rank together in all this?
1. Teaching

To most adults, their biggest problems in daily life constantly involved not being able to pay the bills or fighting with their spouses. To Yuu Nikaidou, the biggest problem in daily life revolved around _children_ who were always disruptive.

See, Yuu Nikaidou was an eighth grade math teacher, and Yuu Nikaidou definetely did not aim for this career as an adolescent.

Eighth grade is such a dramatic year for the youth today as we know it. It was an overwhelming grade to conduct learning.

It was quite easy at first to Yuu as the students were quite quiet the first day of school, and then, soon afterwords, they had turned into mutant beasts who would not learn how to shut their disgusting, vile mouths. The students were savages, and Yuu simply couldn't wrap his head around it.

One of the things that made Nikaidou resent the students—in a sense—was their 'so-called' _maturity_. Yuu scoffed at maturity. How could he compare these children to young adults when he can't even get it in their brains that algebra problems are the least of their problems compared to the _real_ world.

Kindergarteners seemed more mature than these savages who called themselves eighth graders. Some complained about the hard math problems on the board, and others complained about how they would have to run the mile in gym a few periods later. They were all far too pessimistic. Every time he let them be alone in the classroom, they would make noises so loud that even the farthest class down the corridor could hear their inappropriate conduct.

They cared about their looks. The girls took out their mirrors and did their hair. They winked at their crushed flickering their fake eyelashes back and forth when the teacher turned his back to the board. The guys played with their tech-decks, made sexual jokes with their buddies, and made bets with their friends whether the Dodgers would lose that big sports team. Then they wonder why they fail the big Algebra benchmark.

None of those kids really cared about school. They simply found it as somewhere to escape the 'wrath of their parents,' or to 'hang with my buds,' or whatever these children said these days. They never acknowledged learning. They _chose_ to fail, and it's not like he could take that right away from them.

Believe it or not, they're were actually kids that did try in school. They were the _nerds_. They were the type of kids that went up to you and questioned how they could get extra credit to raise their A- up to an A+ and simply tried with all their strength to get on your good side; so much so that it would make you hate them more. They were those kids that rose their hand up and answered every question, and they answered it in such detail that even the teacher was shocked at how much they knew. Those kids were exceptional—sure—but, in eighth grade, all they cared about was hammering you with questions about the difficulties of high school, asking you about the requirements to graduate high school, go to college, and what grade you needed to get to make it to Geometry in 9th grade even though it was quite obvious that they would definitely pass.

It was like this every year and Nikaidou Yuu simply got used to teaching these subjects for 6 periods. Nothing had changed in these multiple nine-month-cycles until he met the kids that defied all set definitions of annoying and disruptive.

Nagihiko Fujisaki: clean, pristine, and ultimate geek of his generation.

vs.

Rima Mashiro: stuck up, chibi devil princess who simply didn't care.

Both placed in his last class of the day.

Greattttttttttttttttttttttt.


	2. Hierarchy

Junior High was like a kingdom. Okay, I could admit that—I suppose. There were the queens who flaunted around the school grounds like they owned the place in their designer underwear. There were jesters who made the whole class burst into laughter over a tuna sandwich. There were the dark knights who wore over-sized clothing, slit their wrists, listened to depressing music, and had their bangs covering one of their eyes; people that made you cry. There were the king's mistresses who dressed in their low-cut skirts and their off-the-shoulder shirts kissing anything male within a five feet perimeter. There were the donkeys who couldn't receive a GPA higher than 2.0 putting in an honest effort.

And then there was me...

The eighth graders picked a few unlucky kids to exclude just because they could. It was a Seiyo tradition like fathers chasing their sons around the yard with power tools. We were like, the super villains of the school, and people scattered away from us like they did in _The Diary of a Wimpy Kid_ when someone got the cheese touch. One of those kids—unfortunately—was me.

I don't really know who decides this circle of rising hatred that is directed towards me, but it's definitely decided by the cool kids, or the 'populars'—as everyone calls them. I don't particularly get it. Everyone bows down at their feet willing to do anything for 'your majesty.' I honestly don't think they're that great, but I suppose everyone's entitled to an opinion.

The populars are relevant to everyone, so I might as well tell you about them now.

First off, there's the cool-and-spicy Hinamori Amu who has shoulder-length bubble gum hair and dresses like a total goth. Utau Hoshina who's a pop-star to be or at least has the attitude to be a teenage drama queen (haha, get it...). Lastly comes Yaya Yuiki who has this incurable addiction to all things with a sugar concentrate in it. She's kind of... hyperactive?

As far as the guys go, there's Ikuto Tsukiyomi—Mr. Black Cat—who's the biggest pervert ever who, of course, all the girls fawn over. Tadase Hotori: the world's most gay person ever, who has the prince charm to win every girl over. Then there's Nagihiko Fujisaki—Perfect Playboy—who was... perfect.

For some reason, the world had nothing on Nagihiko Fujisaki. Yes, he was a playboy, but he was no where near comparable to Ikuto who was addicted to girls like fat people were to foot-longs at Subway. That was just the way of the populars; to hook up and fuck like rabbits... or at least, in their mind.

He was as tall as a five foot, five inched tree and his eyes were like two big brown circles with little, black dots in the middle; oh, wasn't he _dreamy_? I don't know why I picked apart Nagihiko Fujisaki as much as I did all the other populars, but something about that kid wasn't right, and I, Rima Mashiro, was determined to find out.

As I said before, those populars are pretty relevant to every-day society in Seiyo and form what we know as 'the social hierarchy of eighth grade.' They stroll around the room with their stiletto high heels on, watching as everyone is scattering away from them to let them walk through a clear hallway like pigeons retreat away when dogs chase them around the backyard.

This particular day, however, their red-carpet runaway was interrupted by the new-girl. I've already memorized her name: Hazumu Miyuki.

So, she comes walking by with her food in her hands, and Hinamori Amu is walking somewhere else. Of course, her path is clear until Hazumu accidentally runs into her, getting mashed potatoes all over her designer uniform. The look on her face drenched in gravy was indescribable, and even the stoic Rima Mashiro had a little giggle at that one.

Hazumu Miyuki was so embarrassed. She ran out of the room faster than I could actually process what happened. I don't really know what she was trying to achieve by running out like that. She was probably hoping to be gone and unnoticed like the period on a Dr. Pepper can, but unfortunately Seiyo Junior High didn't work like that. Rumors escalated around the whole cafeteria, and by the time lunch ended, everyone was aware of the new girl's stunt, even the hated ones, like me.  
>'Outcast,' I thought immediately, 'I finally had a friend who I could relate to.'<br>I couldn't pass this opportunity up...

and as low as that sounded, I just really longed for a friend in this hell-hole of a junior high.

I looked up, down, and all-around; my eyes roamed the classroom. I twiddled my thumbs a bit. I bit all my fingernails off and chattered my teeth in need of that chewing feeling. I shuffled my papers around to keep myself occupied.  
>"Okay class, today, we are going to take a benchmark exam," Mr. Nikaidou said. Was he trying to mock me? Was he reading into my mind and saying this to intimidate me? Does he know that I only reviewed how to solve a multi-step problem with variables on one side a whole hour more than I studied multi-step problems with variables on both sides on the equation? I couldn't take this anymore; this stress. Mom was disappointed with me last test; she had scolded me until, well, present-day. I can't believe I dared to get the 2nd extra credit point wrong. I got 104% on that test when I could have achieved 110% had I not been so lenient with my study habits, and I dare call myself an honors student.<p>

It's happening again. Last test's failure is re-surfacing itself to haunt me over, and over, and OVER again. I'm Nagihiko Fujisaki. I'm the heir to the Fujisaki riches. How can I not be able to get 110% on a math test? I raised my hand. I couldn't take this test today. I simply wasn't prepared...

See, I have a secret to tell you all. I am paranoid. I am extremely paranoid, and I have no idea why. My mother makes me feel like good grades are not only an honor but a requirement in my household. My mother, though, goes overboard with her punishments when I receive bad grades. When I got 99% on my history test, my mom took my computer away for a whole three months. It's really ridiculous, but for some reason, I rely on them too. Intelligence is—probably—my most prominent talent, and for some reason, I have this compulsion to feed upon it like a kid Halloween night eating all of his candy. It was the only thing I truly despised about myself. I was a _nerd_, and nobody knew it like I did—not even Amu, Ikuto, and the others...

"Yes Nagihiko," Nikaidou said.

"C-could I take the test... tommorow."  
>"Why?"<br>"I'm not prepared." I had composed myself.  
>"Pretty princess not prepared?" the vile Rima Mashiro added.<br>"Rima, detention," Nikaidou rightfully added, "so anyways, Nagihiko, benchmarks are just to show you how much you know so far. It's just reflecting on what you learned in class. You should be prepared just by listening to my lectures in class. You're not supposed to study; no big deal: this test. Just relax and do your best."

"Do my _best_..." I mumbled.

30 seconds later

"D to the O to the N to the E! BOOM!" Rima Mashiro yelled. She put her feet on the desk and lounged back to the once empty desk behind her, now Miyuki's seat, "sup Miyuki. Name's Mashiro. Mashiro Rima. Get to know me."

The new girl in our class, Miyuki, looked at her with eyes that shone confusion and utter amusement. I, myself, remembered Rima as the reserved girl who everyone picked on. The 'Ice Queen.' Interesting... how she'd make a scene like this... perhaps I'm putting too much thought into this. Class clowns will be class clowns; I suppose.  
>"Rima. Deten-"<br>"Detention? Oh god, look at Nikaidou-sensei and his big, bad detention slips. Ooooooooooh." Rima said mockingly. The whole class burst out laughing.

"Rima, zero!" Nikaidou yelled. Not like it mattered anyways because our teacher revealed the scan-tron to be bubbled in such a _talented_ way that read out the word, 'awepic.' Sometimes, that girl is just so immature.

"Continue working class..."  
>Lucky, this benchmark was extremely easy. I mean, who would've known, a test being so effortlessly easy. After twenty questions of easy problems (man, I'm so glad I studied those multi-step equation solutions), I turned in my assignment with a big smile cocked on my face. 'I know I'm going to get 100%!' I thought.<p>

After the test, I cocked my book—Clockwork Angel—open to where I left off and started reading like any other normal teenager waiting for the testing period to end. I thought about the praise I would get from my mother, once she found out I got one hundred percent on this test. I thought about the excruciating dance classes after school. I thought about poor Amu; I heard what happened during lunch. She's probably livid. I thought about poor Hazumu. The world probably hates her now just because she accidentally bumped into Amu, but rumor has it Mashiro payed her to do it. Believable... I suppose.

Because of Rima's little stunt, we weren't allowed to leave the classroom—of our last class of the day, may I add—for another ten minutes after the final bell rang.

"Okay class. Would anyone like to ask any questions about the test," Nikaidou started. No response, "okay. I expect to see A's from everyone then." Perhaps he forgot one stu-,"Rima, would you like to say sorry. I understand your little outburst to a certain degree so if-"

"Oh, look class. Nikaidou speaks of wisdom that can only come from experience like dudes that go blind 'cause they looked up at solar eclipses without the boxes with the little pinholes in them and go around the country preaching about the dangers of looking at solar eclipses without the boxes with the little pinholes in them."

Agitated, Nikaidou proclaimed to the whole class, "Everyone. OUT. Except for Mashiro. _And_ Fujisaki."  
>Quickly, the students rushed out of the classroom like a dog chasing after a frisbee.<p>

"You, Mashiro. You Fujisaki. YOU shall work together. No disrupt—DON'T SAY ANYTHING RETARDED MASHIRO—no calling on me. No idiotic questions. Nothing. Rima Mashiro and Nagihiko Fujisaki are complete opposites; we can all agree on that, but two negatives make a positive, right Nagi-"  
>"Well, technically if you add them-"<br>"Shut up Nagihiko. Just SHUT UP. THAT'S THE LAST STRAW RIGHT THERE. Stop being logical. And you, Miss Ice Queen. You think you're all hot with your, fancy smart-ass word arrangements? Well, I think your vocabulary is as bad as... WHATEVER. It's SO bad I can't even describe it. Are you happy? Are you happy, you two? For making me lose all my sanity as a teacher. From now on, you two have switched personalities. Whoever fails first at being one another loses. Got that. I'll call your parents for the sudden changes. Just... Leave me alone."

For some reason, I feel as if eighth grade won't be all that glamorous...


	3. Tutoring about yourself: Okay?

Seventh period came once again.

I hated it. I hated Nikaidou. I hated Algebra 1. Most of all, I hate _him_.

I hated how he flicked his long, violet locks behind his back. I hated how his skin shone as if a vampire's. I hated how every movement he made—even the way he wrote down the lecture notes in class—was more graceful than even the girliest of girls could pull off; more than _I _could pulloff. I hated how his golden orbs mocked me and scanned every movement I made.

Just because he was the heir to some grand fortune didn't give him the right to flaunt around the school like he was better than everyone else... but something obviously did.

Nothing gave him the right to judge the ranks below him in this fucked up hierarchy of grade eight. Nothing gave him the right to degrade them and practically spit in their faces, and yet, those bitches the world calls 'the populars' did it all. And I hated them for it.

I hated not having a friend. I hated always being the outcast. I hated always being the target to be picked upon. I hated that my flaws were acknowledged at the times of the simplest slip-ups, but the thing I hated the most was the fact I had to _act _like everything I hated about them.

Did Nikaidou just want me to act better. I could've done that. I could've actually learned in that math class. It didn't have to resort to _this_. Please, I'd rather commit suicide.

It wouldn't be that hard to be like Nagihiko. I mean, I could try in class. I could be studious. The whole unit of math is easy this year, so I could ace every test. I could annoy the crap out of Nikaidou by asking him after every homework assignment how much percent of it is effected towards our grades. I'd still be a disruption, just in a Nagihiko-kind-of-way.

Rima Mashiro is unbreakable, and this is just another stupid challenge put forth in front of me:  
>To out-stage Nagihiko at his own game.<br>Oh... Nikaidou better be ready for what he has started...

"Okay class, has everyone finished their lecture notes?" Nikaidou asked.  
>"Yes." The class responded.<br>"Yes, okay. So, does anyone know the function for the first set of coordinates," I raised my hand, "oh, Rima." he cringed.  
>"Well, Nikaidou. It's simple math really. The coordinates were {(1,4) , (2,7) , (3,10) , (4,13)}, so multiplying the number alone wouldn't work. Just adding would also cause nothing, but to find the function to the coordinates given, we must multiply and add together. If you just times three to find Y, nothing happens, but if you times 3 to x and then add one, you get the answer, Y, given. For example, if we were to plug in our first independent variable with this function, we would receive 3 x 1 + 1. In the order of operations, we would first multiply leaving our expression as 3 + 1 and this equals 4."<br>The whole class was speechless. Even Nikaidou was impressed about how much I knew about the subject.  
>Clap. Clap. Clap.<br>Oh no...  
>"Wow, look at Rima with her big words. Someone call Google and alert the internet machine." Nagihiko said. God, my puns are more original than that, aren't they?<br>"Oh look, Nikaidou. Quite a common example of misbehavior in the classroom, yet you refrain from giving out any forms of punishments? What a shame... May I just add though that in this school, two things are infinite: the amount of candy Yaya can consume and human stupidity of bottom-feeders such as so," I say pointing to Nagihiko, "though, Mr. Nikaidou, I'm not sure about Yaya's candy issues; she has to get full some time, am I right? Perhaps you should manage your classroom in a more orderly conduct."

The unnecessary sound effects coming from the students echoed the classroom. "Oooh. Ahhhhhh." Just because I have to act like a nerd doesn't mean I still can't do it sarcastically.

"That's IT!" Nagihiko yelled. He jumped up on top of his desk, "Ooh, look at me. I'm Rima Mashiro. I can't two and two. I make retarded jokes. I don't have any friends. I'm just a stupid, blonde, retarded, INSOLENT little chibi devil who's only capability on this school campus is to spew a couple of sarcastic insults towards the hardworking teachers of this school. Aren't I pathetic?"

"Ooh, look at me. I'm Nagihiko Fujisaki. I can get an A on a math test, play basketball, and date every girl in the 8th grade, and I haven't even had a hair-cut in 5 years! I'm just a perfect, cross-dresser, girly, gay, purple-head who's only capability in this school campus is to wander around the campus like the Queen of England and judge others because THEY aren't inheriting some huge 'Fujisaki' fortune and actually will have to work for a living in their lives. Aren't I just perfect?"

Before I even knew it, flames arose surrounding my every limb, and Nikaidou led the whole class out of the room. You could practically feel the flames sparking in between Nagihiko and I. It was really indescribable: the aura of the room, and then...  
>"Hazumu. Get out of the classroom. You may be new and all, but it's like war-zone between them right now." Nikaidou was standing outside with his head in the doorway, while trying to calm scared children outside at the same time. We both turned to look at her, our eyes wide with fiery hatred for one another. You could probably see lightening bolts in our eyes.<br>"Are you kidding me? Leave? When I could be watching _this_? This is better than reality TV. I wish I would've brought my camera to film them like this. Oh my God. This, _this_, is just beautiful. Are they always like this? This could be like, a viral YouTube video."  
>"Good luck dying then." Nikaidou quickly closed the door in a retarded motion and you could hear him outside planning the funeral of the new student. I did kind of feel bad for her. I mean, I can feel my eyes boiling up with hatred and rage, and the new girl totally killed the mood... you know what, that kind of makes her awesome though.<br>"Okay, you guys are classic. No offense, but aren't you," she pointed to Nagihiko, "supposed to be a stuck-up, popular, dancer guy who's dated every girl in the school. And you," pointing to me, Hazumu continued, "supposed to be an out-casted, smart-ass who's the rumored chibi devil of the school—and for that matter, stupid at the same time?"  
>"Hey, I'm not stupid. My thoughts just tumble in my mind like laundry in a dryer." I interjected.<br>"Oh, so you're just naturally stupid? That's beautiful."  
>"Finally someone who understands me!"<br>"Okay," Nagihiko said, "I totally disagree with you. I'm not popular. I'm not stuck up, and I certainly have _not _dated every girl in the school. Ikuto made up that whole playboy rumor thing when I turned 13. He said it would attract the_ ladies_."  
>"Pshhhh—Hazumu, he's trying to ask you out."<br>"Shut up Rima!" he said to me, "as far as the smart thing goes. I suppose I'm smart, smarter than Rima anyways, (HEY!) but it's like my mom says, 'everyone has photographic memory, some just don't have film. Huhhhhhhhh," Meep. Meep. Meep. "Huhhhhhhhhhhhhh."  
>"...I'm sorry. Are we supposed to laugh at that?"<br>"I hate you Rima."  
>"I hate you more."<br>"Oh my God, you guys are hilarious!" says Hazumu, dying of laughter in the corner of the room, again, killing the aura here.

"Rima Mashiro and Nagihiko Fujisaki. Please report to the main office immediately."

Those words were the words that defined this Tuesday. First period was Mr. Nikaidou's conference period, so I was expecting something like this to happen. The 'main office' isn't exactly what you'd call fun, but I was used to it. At Seiyo, you got sent to the main office if you get dress-coded (which means you don't wear the uniform), you pick up something your parents sent you, you do something outrageous in class, or you're Rima Mashiro, and every time you're sent to the main office for any reason, they always give you some kind of lecture about being a good citizen and how important government is. Very rarely do you get sent to the main office for something good like earning a reward or something, but I'm sure Fujisaki has accomplished that some-way, somehow.  
>Oh, I knew I was in trouble. Our little stunt was so outrageous that it passes my dictionary-set definition of insane, so Nagihiko must be freaking out right now.<br>Speaking of which...  
>"I'm gonna die. I'm going to die. I've never gotten a B in my life. I've never been set up to the main office except when I get those little awards I hang up in my room. I gotta get out of here. I'l-"<br>"Hey, Nagihiko."  
>"Yes. What? Hi Rima. I'm gonna die. It's YOUR FAULT." Wow, he's really losing it...<p>

"You know those fences that cover the perimeter of the school. You know, the fences that resembles Nancy Kerigan's teeth?" he nodded, "if you jump over the fence, you should make it out of the school campus before we're called to meet with Nikaidou."

"Y-y-you really think I'll m-make it?"  
>"Nagihiko, Rima, Nikaidou is ready for you." some office lady said.<br>"shit..." Nagihiko mumbled.

"You two are the most repulsive children I've taught. Rima, okay, fine; this attitude was expected from you. I acknowledge that, but Nagihiko... you are my model student, have not earned anything below an A for the period of time I've been teaching you, and yet you somehow have the compulsion to jump on top of a desk and shout your hatred for another student.  
>"I know you two don't get along. You think I'm stupid? You two are the most extreme cases of ignorance and just plain perfection that I've ever seen from an eighth grade pupil. I've challenged the two most differently studious and intellectuality gifted students I could find, and I challenged them to put on a simple facade for forty five minutes of the day, and they can't even do that.<br>"I don't find this shocking. The studious will study and the ignorant will show off their ignorance, but you two are just plain dumb. You are perfectly content with yourselves and your behavior at school, and that attitude between the both of you needs to stop immediately.  
>"I want you two to understand each other, even though I acknowledge your lives at both school and home are two completely different situations. I want you to accept this as an adventure whether you like it or not. I want my classroom to remain non-flammable, thank you Rima, and for these reasons, I'm locking you in this office alone until you guys can actually understand each other without spewing insults and sarcastic comments; in a sense, tutor each other about the long, hard lives of the Nagihiko-an and the Rim-ish. And well, if you don't cooperate, well, I suppose you'll be locked in a room for 5 hours until the final bell rings <em>starving<em> from missing lunch. This is fair to both you and me for causing such a disruption in my classroom. No but's, and as Nike says 'just do it.' Goodbye,"

And just like that, we heard a click from the door signaling that Nikaidou had locked it, and I was stuck in a room as silent as a mouse with one of my newly found worst enemies. Why couldn't he had just given us detentions?

* * *

><p>Conversation would have been nice. Anything—even the sound of Rima spewing insults at me—would have been nice to cure this oppressing boredom circling around this dreadful room.<br>She would have to say something. I know this girl's cold and cruel. I know she doesn't have anybody her age to rely on, or at least at school she doesn't. I know there's something wrong with her, and I know there's a reason why she misbehaves in class. I know she's not an idiot—even I can admit that—and despite my growing hatred towards this girl, she did solve that math problem that half of our idiotic class was lost on. I know she cares about people, or I know she cares about something; it's just, she doesn't give a crap about me. Honestly, I know she has a motive. Is that what I'm supposed to find out?  
>"So why do you do it?" I said quickly.<br>"If you're going to ask me a question as general as that, you're going to have to be a little more specific."  
>"You know what I mean. Why do you act as if you know nothing in class—in all your classes?"<br>"I don't get the point in being an over-achiever. It only makes the school have higher expectations for me. Besides, I don't_ understand_-"  
>"Liar, you understand beautifully. That long explanation of that function in class yesterday—it made <em>me<em> bored."  
>"So, I studied. I wanted to out do you in your own game. I wanted the out-stage you. I wanted to make you feel stupid. I wanted to downgrade you and jerk you off your god-damn thrown, and that's only a half-lie.<br>"You think you're so perfect with your conceited shoes, your intellectuality-gifted mind, and your god-damn baby face that makes every girl within a one-hundred mile radius fawn over you. You just don't get it, do you? I hate you. You hate me. We're just a one big hatred-filled family, don't we. Leave me alone, and I'll leave you alone. We can get out of here by lying. 'Rima's just an idiot and has an undiagnosed learning disability' 'Nagihiko's has all the pressure of the world on his shoulders because he has to go home and _dance_'" Rima finished.  
>I sneered, "and you're any better? You think you're so cool because every other word that comes out of your mouth is a curse world or a sarcastic comment? Do you like to fail? Does it make you content with yourself as a person? 'Well, I got a 'F' on my big math test, but hey, I didn't try and maybe I could've done better.' I was wrong about you. You are an idiot, and you probably do have an undiagnosed learning disability involving sociology somehow: the study of <em>people<em>. It's like you want pity, but you push away everyone who tries to give you some of it. I kind of felt bad for you. 'Oh look, she has no friends and everyone teases her. How sad,' but getting to know you, I've realized that you deserve it. You-you're just—I don't even want to tell you." I spewed.  
>"Aw, come on. I need a new label to add onto the insults I've received."<br>"a dumb blonde, selfish brat who doesn't know when enough is enough."  
>It was actually silent for a minute or two. I could feel the tension rising in the air... I don't know why she didn't respond. Could she be thinking of a reply to outdo what I had said, or did I actually offend the untouchable Rima Mashiro?"<p>

"Do you really want to know why? Do you really care? Fine: I do it for the attention," Rima continued, "You think I'm so stupid that I couldn't even distinguish the difference between adding and subtracting in the class. Fine. I don't blame you for your opinions, but I do it solely for the attention.

"Don't you get it? The reaction from the teachers, the reactions from the students, and the reactions from my parents—oh, from my parents it's definitely the best.

"I make the teachers shiver in disgust and complain to their spouses about the vile girl in their 3rd or 4th or 5th or whatever period, and I become a living legend in their league of bad students. Even though the students don't relatively like me, I keep them on their toes. They want to know what Rima Mashiro's going to say to Mr. Sasaki assigning more homework, or how Rima's going to react to that 'F' she got on the science benchmark. Even the kids who are the most attentive students in the world want to know because they hate being disrupted. I even get their attention when they're complaining to their math books about how annoying the Rima Mashiro is.  
>And my parents; it's the best part. They finally—<em>finally—<em>stop arguing and pay some attention to me because I failed a test or because I was mean to a teacher, or because I hopped on top of a desk in the middle of a lecture, almost caught a classroom on fire, and spewed insults at the school's most perfect pupil, and they punish me. Yes, my parents punish me. They take away the computer, the television, and any forms of entertainment they can find, and they're absolutely fed up with my _bad behavior_. But don't you get it! It makes them stop fighting for a fucking second and see how screwed up their daughter is, and I absolutely love it. No electronic form of entertainment can replace the love I long for from my parents. It makes them concerned about me, and because I deliberately do it for a petty reason involving _my_ attention issues, or whatever, it makes me the biggest selfish brat of all the bratty teenage girls on the planet. I make the bratz dolls cry in disappointment of their failures in outdoing Rima Mashiro in bratty-ness, and I love it. Go ahead and judge, nerd-boy." she finished, practically yelling.

"You must think it's easy," I started, "you must think it's easy to be the heir to the Fujisaki fortune. You must think it's easy to dance in the traditional Japanese form. You must think it's easy to dress as if a girl for the performances. You must think it's easy to ace every assignment given to me, and you must think it's easy to juggle it all at once at age 13.  
>"I don't deny the fact that I am blessed because I am. I was born into a wealthy family on July 4th, 1998, and I was born with expectations. Both my dad and my mom had received straight A's and 4.0 GPAs throughout secondary school, so I must do the same but <em>better<em>.

"I must make sure I do not miss one question on any one test or face the consequences. That attention that you long for, I despise. Every action I make is taken under consideration as a flaw at my house, and it has definitely gotten worse since—you know what, why would you even care. You'd never be able to understand."  
>She blinked repeatedly. She peered her eyes to the left and the right in an odd way, "You don't tell them about the overwhelming amount of pressure they put onto your shoulders. You're barely a teenager. You can worry about all that stuff when you turn 18 after schooling, right?"<p>

"I can't. I just... don't have that kind of determination to go up to my mom and tell her that I'm too stressed about _everything, _so I suppose I just keep doing extremely well in school to avoid attention."  
>"I get it," Rima said, "I don't have the determination to tell my parents to stop fighting. I don't have a way to get a friend in school—I guess—so I continue failing in school to get some attention."<br>"Well then, in that case, I hate you." I said.  
>"Well, I hate you more."<br>...Did something revolutionary in my relationship with Rima just happen right then and there?

**Well, I hope you like. I claim NOTHING.**

**R&R(:**


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